I would have thought that (after years of immersion among other kids, who do not hesitate to correct any deviation from the norm) Selkie’s accent would be far less than the other Sarnothi kids – Or at least her English would be better than theirs. Kids pick up local accents pretty fast.

Y’know, Gisby, that’s what I thought, so way back when I suggested a physiological reason- that Sarnothi childrens’ teeth encourage unwanted sibilance.

But I then read an interesting article on why Dexter apparently has an Austrian accent (Cracked.com)- apparently children with Asperger’s Syndrome tend to retain the first pronunciation of a word they come across, even if from, say, TV. Selkie may not have the Syndrome in precisely human terms, but however she acquired her current pronunciation, it might well stay with her until consciously corrected.

Yeah, I was also disappointed by the “Tensei grammar” explanation. I can readily accept a different concept of plural — for example, English uses an illogical plural for “trousers” and “glasses”, where the corresponding German words are singular. But it bothers me that she even adds an S to words that are already plural. “We’s are’s childrens”, for a made-up example, since I’m too lazy to look up a real one. And if it’s so common for everything to be plural in Tensei, then when would they ever use the singular forms?

It might just be as simple as ‘stubbornness’; the inclination of other people to be weirded out by the way Selkie talks made her more determined to continue rather than give them the satisfaction of changing.

(Remember how, when she heard Todd explaining to his siblings that Selkie’s kiss have him a rash that one time? Her first thought was that they were making fun of her).

Our test session was postponed because the kid in the first row had an older brother who had already passed the course. The proctor was only halfway done handing out the tests by the time the kid had finished his casting.
Took a professional cleaning service three days to get that classroom back in order and get the lingering smoke aired out.
The principal who tried to expel the kid never came in to collect his last paycheck.

The first primal urge is Power; to make all younger siblings acknowledge that you have the power, and you Rock!. The Second primal urge is proprietary; NObody slaps My little brother around but ME! I am part of my family, they qbelong to my family, Hands OFF!Further down the list, but Still Part of being an older brother is to give your younger siblings power, tricks, and techniques, for them to impress their peers so they look good.Because their peers will tell their siblings, Thus increasing your stature and standing in the community, because a reputation for being awesome greatly increases your chances of attracting a high status mate.